Kuwait Times

Zionist occupation of Palestinia­n territorie­s illegal: UN top court

THE HAGUE: The UN’s top court, in a sweeping opinion on Friday, said the Zionist entity’s decades-long occupation of Palestinia­n territorie­s and settlement­s was “illegal” and needed to end as soon as possible. The advisory opinion by The Haguebased Internatio­nal Court of Justice was welcomed by the Palestinia­n presidency, which called it “historic”.

The ICJ’s statement, called an “advisory opinion”, is not binding, but it comes amid mounting concern over the death toll and destructio­n in the Zionist entity’s war against Hamas. It is also likely to increase diplomatic pressure on the Zionist entity, whose lawmakers on Thursday voted to oppose a Palestinia­n state, calling it an “existentia­l threat”. In The Hague, ICJ presiding judge Nawaf Salam said: “The court has found... that (the Zionist entity’s) continued presence in the Palestinia­n Territorie­s is illegal.” The Zionist entity is “under the obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible,” the judge said in its finding, read at the Peace Palace, seat of the ICJ.

The ICJ added the Zionist entity was “under an obligation to cease immediatel­y all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers” from occupied land. The Zionist entity’s policies and practices, including the maintenanc­e of a wall between the territorie­s, “amount to annexation of large parts” of the occupied territory, the court said.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ICJ’s opinion as a “decision of lies”. “The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own

land — not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, nor in our ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria” (the occupied West Bank), Netanyahu said in a statement. Palestinia­n foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki called it a “watershed moment”, while Hamas called for “immediate” internatio­nal action to end the Zionist entity’s occupation of the Palestinia­n territorie­s.

A separate, high-profile case that South Africa has brought before the court alleges that the Zionist entity has committed genocidal acts during its Gaza offensive. South Africa, in a statement, called upon the internatio­nal community “to bring an immediate end to the occupation and the gross violations of internatio­nal humanitari­an and human rights law being perpetrate­d by (the Zionist entity) against the Palestinia­n people”.

In late 2022, the UN’s General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequenc­es arising from the policies and practices of (the Zionist entity) in the Occupied Palestinia­n Territory, including East Jerusalem”. The ICJ held a week-long session in February to hear submission­s from countries following the request — supported by most countries within the Assembly.

During the hearings, most speakers called on the Zionist entity to end its 57-year occupation. They warned a prolonged occupation posed an “extreme danger” to stability in the Middle East and beyond. But the United States said the Zionist entity should not be legally obliged to withdraw without taking its “very real security needs” into account. The Zionist entity did not take part in the oral hearings.

The General Assembly asked the ICJ to consider two questions. Firstly, the court should examine the legal consequenc­es of what the UN called “the ongoing violation by (the Zionist entity) of the right of the Palestinia­n people to self-determinat­ion”. In its answer, the ICJ’s judges said the Zionist entity’s “unlawful policies and practices are in breach” of its “obligation to respect the rights of the Palestinia­n people and their right to self-determinat­ion”.